Bypass the Fiber Trend & Optimize Your Gut Health | HOMe Podcast #015
episodePreviously titled “Bypass the Fiber Trend & Optimize Your Gut Health” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
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What are the fundamental differences between soluble and insoluble fiber?
Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of the Health Optimization Medicine Podcast. We have our faculty here, Dr. Yup, Dr. Ted, Dr. Alan. This is Dr. Scott. I'm talking about myself in the third person. You've all got entitlement. Okay, anyway, nice to meet you guys. Be with us today. Thanks for being here. I don't know if I can do it. Okay. It's great to be back with all of you today. What are we going to talk about today, guys? We're going to talk about fiber. Fiber minimizing, fiber maximizing, fiber maxing is the trend. Dr. Teh, you know a lot about fiber. In fact, I think you've called it the fourth macronutrient, right? We have proteins, carbohydrates, fat, and then- Fiber. Fiber. Talk to me and talk to us about fiber as you understand it and see
it. Fiber is actually a class of carbohydrates, right? And there are two forms of fiber. There's a soluble fiber, that which actually breaks down into your calories. And there's insoluble fiber, those that add bulk to your stool. And they both have their place in the human diet. You're supposed to consume about 34 grams of fiber a day. And most people don't look at the dietary component of the things that they buy. Of course, if it's fresh food, there's also that's actually published for the weight of the fresh food that you buy. You can see how much fiber it is. But in many of these bars, et cetera, you could see, you know, I was there at the initial generation of high fiber bars and they tasted like cardboard bars.
And then now they actually have almost perfected the flavor.
How does the “fiber‑maxing” trend affect gut health and conditions like SIBO or IBS?
There's still that cardboard background, but they're palatable. But the thing is, you actually are required to drink a lot of water with them, which people don't do. Right? So, and remember, there is a concept of net carbs, right? Net carbs would be the number of the total carbohydrate intake minus your insoluble fiber. Because remember that the soluble fiber counts for your carbohydrates. And that's proper computation for this. And it's actually a pity because in my practice where I lecture doctors, they don't even realize that fiber is a form of carbohydrate. And second, they don't even know what net carbs are. That's a shame for us. And that's actually a shame for medical education because we only have, what, six hours of nutrition, which sucks, literally.
And then this is why we take a look at everything in the disease lens. And who was it? The famous philosopher who said, you know, food is your medicine.
Yeah. We took an oath, I believe.
So yeah. Yes. You've heard of this concept called fiber maxing before?
I have, but can you explain to me
exactly how that works? So there's this trend out now where, so Ted mentioned about 34 or 35 grams of fiber a day is what's recommended. but there's a trend on trying to maximize the amount of fiber you have in a daily basis. So you have your psyllium husk, you have your acacia powder, you have your green drinks, which don't have a lot of fiber, et cetera, et cetera, right? And then you're getting to a place where, like, hypothetically, you're going to feel better. But can you see a problem with this, potentially?
Are people reporting feeling better with this? Some people are, but not everybody. Why would that be the case? I can definitely imagine this being a problem. So...
Why can excessive fiber intake lead to hormonal changes such as amenorrhea in female athletes?
I also work in family medicine and a lot of people come to me with gut problems, gas, bloating, whatnot. And our current healthcare system doesn't really have... IBS. Yeah, it's a bucket term, a diagnosis of exclusion, irritable bowel syndrome, and they often get referred to a gastroenterologist. They do a lot of testing, maybe even a colonoscopy. Probably back end. Exactly. And they find nothing. But what they fail to realize is that we can now actually measure your gut microbiome and see exactly the bacterial constitution of that gut microbiome. Now, if people have too little microbes in their gut, giving a little extra fiber is good. It feeds the bacteria. But if people have bacterial overgrowth or short intestinal bowel overgrowth and you give even more fiber, you just pile on the problems.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the fundamental differences between soluble and insoluble fiber?
0:31–2:19
2
How does the “fiber‑maxing” trend affect gut health and conditions like SIBO or IBS?
2:19–4:10
3
Why can excessive fiber intake lead to hormonal changes such as amenorrhea in female athletes?
4:10–6:20
4
What are the main side‑effects of fiber over‑consumption (obstruction, mineral binding, fermentation, caloric displacement)?
6:20–8:46
5
How can personalized gut testing determine whether you need more, less, or different fiber?
8:46–11:03
6
Which short‑chain fatty acids are most important for gut health and how are they measured?
11:03–12:33
7
Why is butyrate considered a key epigenetic signaler and how does its deficiency relate to disease?
12:33–13:56
8
How does the gut function as the body’s largest immune organ and what role does GALT play?
13:56–15:22
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Health Optimization Medicine Podcast
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